Griswold residents send revised roof proposal to referendum

Monday

Jan 6, 2014 at 10:01 PMJan 6, 2014 at 10:01 PM

By Ryan Blessingrblessing@norwichbulletin.com (860) 425-4205

A reworded ballot question asking Griswold voters to fund the replacement of the town’s high school roof will go before voters on Jan. 14.Fewer than 15 people turned out for a special town meeting Monday that lasted about five minutes. The referendum question was unanimously sent to the Jan. 14 referendum. The original roof repair proposal passed Dec. 4 by a vote of 298-122, with just 6 percent of the town’s eligible voters casting ballots. The question on the Dec. 4 ballot asked, “Shall the Town of Griswold approve funding up to $3 million to cover costs of the Griswold High School roof with possible reimbursement by the state?”That wording caused some concern for town officials, who worried that the language could inhibit efforts to secure state bonding and leave taxpayers to foot the entire bill for the project.The revised wording reads, “Shall the $3,000,000 appropriation and general obligation bond issuance authorization to pay for replacement of the existing Griswold High School Roof (after taking into account estimated State grants to be applied, the amount of Town bonds estimated to be issued is $1,000,000), as adopted by the Boards of Selectmen and Finance, be approved?”Resident Valerie King wanted to know if the new wording had been reviewed by the town’s attorney. “It has been,” First Selectman Kevin Skulczyck said. “Our attorney, Joe Fasi, has done this in the past and gave us direction on the process, and we’re comfortable we’re in the right position this time.”The towns wants to replace the school’s roof, which is more than 20 years old and deteriorating. The state will reimburse eligible portions of the project at a rate of 72 percent.If the voters pass the resolution, the building committee will ask an architect to draw up plans, which must be approved by the state, School Building Committee Chairman Frank Everett said. It then would go out to bid to a contractor, and the town would award the project to the most qualified bidder sometime in the spring, he said. “Our timetable is to start work the last week of June,” Everett said. “That would bring the project to completion in mid-August.”